*J
•• • <*
^
NARRATIVE
0F THE
» )
LIFE OP MOSES G.BATS T M
5 ..
FORMERLY A SLAVE
'IN THE
UNITED STATES OF AMEBICA
<
" Slavery is a mass, a system of enormities, which incontrovertibly
bids defiance to evefy regulation which ingenuity can devise, or power
effect, but a total extinction. Why ought slavery to be abolished ?
Because it is incurable injustice. Why is injustice to remain for a single
hour?" William Pitt'.
»\
SECOND AMERICAN JFROM THE LAST LONDON EDITION.
'*'
SOLD FOR THE BENEFIT OF HIS RELATIONS STILL IN •{
SLAVERY
BOSTON:
OLIVER JOHNSON, 25 CORNHILL.
1844.
i
I \y»
NARRATIVE
OF THE
LIFE OF MOSES GRANDY,
FORMERLY A SLAVE
IN THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
"Slavery is a mass, a system of enormities, which incoiitroveitibly
bids defiance to every regulation which ingenuity can devise, or power
effect, but a total extinction. Why ought slavery to be abolished ?
Because it is incurable injustice. Why is injustico to remain for a single
hour?" William Pi it
SECOND AMERICAN FROM THE LAST LONDON EDITION.
SOLD FOR THE BENEFIT OF HIS RELATIONS STILL IN
SLAVERY.
BOSTON:
OLIVER JOHNSON, 25 CORNH1LL.
18 4 4.
,G7f
1*11
*** It is not improbable that some of the proper names in ti»fc follow-
ing pages are incorrectly spelled. M. G., through the laws of the slave
slates, is perfectly illiterate ; his pronunciation being the uulv guide.
■Robinson J?»>» 4 -
INTRODUCTION
About a fortnight ago, the subject of the following brief
Memoir came to me, bearing with him a letter from a dear
friend and distinguished abolitionist in the United States,
from which the following is an extract: — 'I seize my pen
in haste to gratify a most worthy colored friend of mine, by
giving him a letter of introduction to you, as he intends
sailing this week (August 8th, 1842) for Liverpool and
London, via New Orleans. His name is Moses Grandy.
He knows what it is to have been a slave, and what are
the tender mercies of the southern slave-drivers. His his-
tory is not only authentic, but most extraordinary, and full
of thrilling interest. Could it be published, it would make
a deep sensation in every quarter. He was compelled to
buy his freedom three times over! He paid for it $1,850.
He has since bouo-ht his wife, and one or two of his chil-
dren ; and before going to England will first go to New
Orleans, to purchase some of his other children, if he can
find them, who are still held in captivity. His benevolence,
affection, kindness of heart, and elasticity of spirit, are truly
remarkable. He has a good head, a fine countenance, and
a great spirit, notwithstanding his education has been ob-
tained in the horrible school of slavery. Just get him to
tell you his narrative, and if you happen to have an anti-
slavery meeting, let him tell his tale to a British audience.'
In the letter of another highly esteemed friend, he is spoken
of as ' unsurpassed for faithfulness and perseverance ; ' in
the letter of a third, as a ' worthy and respectable man.'
IV INTRODUCTION.
On examining a book containing a list of the donations
made him by American friends, in aid of his noble design
to rescue from the miseries of slavery his relations, I found
the names and certificates of persons of the highest re-
spectability. It will be amply sufficient with those who
are acquainted with the Abolitionists of the United States
for me to name General Fessenden, and Nathan Winslow,
Esq., of Portland, Maine ; the Rev. A. A. Phelps, Ellis
Gray Loring, and Samuel E. Sewall, Esqs., of Boston,
Massachusetts. Being satisfied, by these indubitable vouch-
ers, of Moses Grandy's title to credit, I listened to his
artless tale with entire confidence, and with a feeling of
interest which all will participate who peruse the following
pages. Considering his Narrative calculated to promote a
more extensive knowledge of the workings of American
slavery, and that its sale might contribute to the object
which engages so entirely the mind of Moses, namely, the
redemption of those who are in bonds, belonging to his
family, I resolved to commit it to the press, as nearly as
possible in the language of Moses himself. I have carefully
abstained from casting a single reflection or animadversion
of my own. I leave the touching story of the self-liberated
captive to speak for itself, and the wish of my heart will be
gratified, and my humble effort on his behalf be richly
rewarded, if this little book is the means of obtaining for
my colored brother the assistance which he seeks, or of
increasing the zeal of those who are associated for the
purpose of 'breaking every yoke and setting the oppressed
free.'
GEORGE THOMPSON.
9, Blandford Place, Regent's Park,
October 18th, 1842.
NARRATIVE.
My name is Moses Grandy. I was born in Cam-
den county, North Carolina. I believe I am fifty-
six years old. Slaves seldom know exactly how
old they are ; neither they nor their masters set
down the time of a birth ; the slaves, because
they are not allowed to write or read, and the
masters, because they only care to know what slaves
belong to them.
The master, Billy Grandy, whose slave I was
born, was a hard-drinking man ; he sold away
many slaves. I remember four sisters and four
brothers ; my mother had more children, but they
were dead or sold away before I can remember. I
was the youngest. I remember well my mother
often hid us all in the woods, to prevent master
sellino- us. When we wanted water, she sought
for it in any hole or puddle formed by falling trees
or otherwise. It was often full of tadpoles and
insects. She strained it, and gave it round to each
of us in the hollow of her hand. For food, she
gathered berries in the woods, got potatoes, raw
corn, &c. After a time, the master would send
word to her to come in, promising he would not
sell us. But, at length, persons came who agreed
6 LIFE or MOSES GRANDY,
to give the prices he set on us. His wife, with
much to be done, prevailed on him not to sell me;
but he sold my brother, who was a little boy. My
mother, frantic with grief, resisted their taking her
child away. She was beaten, and held down ; she
fainted ; and, when she came to herself, her boy
was gone. She made much outcry, for which the
master tied her up to a peach-tree in the yard, and
flogged her.
Another of my brothers was sold to Mr. Tyler,
Dewan's Neck, Pasquotank county. This man very
much ill treated many colored boys. One very
cold day, he sent my brother out, naked and hun-
gry, to find a yoke of steers ; the boy returned
without finding them, when his master flogged him,
and sent him out again. A white lady, who lived
near, gave him food, and advised him to try again ;
he did so, but, it seems, again without success. He
piled up a heap of leaves, and laid himself down
in them, and died there. He was found through a
flock of turkey buzzards hovering over him ; these
birds had pulled his eyes out.
My young master and I used to play together;
there was but two days' difference in our ages.
My old master always said he would give me to
him. When he died, all the colored people were
divided amongst his children, and I fell to young
master; his name was James Grandy. I was then
about eight years old. When I became old
enough to be taken away from my mother and put
to field work, I was hired out for the year, by auc-
tion, at the court house, every January : this is
the common practice with respect to slaves belong-
ing to persons who are under age. This continued
till my master and myself were twenty-one years
old.
LATE A SLAVE. 7
The first who hired me was Mr. Kemp, who
used me pretty well ; he gave me plenty to eat,
and sufficient clothing.
The next was old Jemmy Coates, a severe man.
Because I could not learn his way of hilling corn,
he flogged me naked with a severe whip, made of
a very tough sapling; this lapped round me at each
stroke; the point of it at last entered my belly and
broke off, leaving an inch and a half outside. I
was not aware of it until, on going to work again,
it hurt my inside very much, when, on looking
down, I saw it sticking out of my body. I pulled it
out, and the blood spouted after it. The wound
festered, and discharged very much at the time,
and hurt me for years after.
In being hired out, sometimes the slave gets a
good home, and sometimes a bad one : when he
gets a good one, he dreads to see January come ;
when he has a bad one, the year seems five times
as long as it is.
I was next with Mr. Enoch Sawyer, of Camden
county. My business was to keep ferry, and do
other odd work. It was cruel living. We had not
near enough of either victuals or clothes. I was
half starved for half my time. I have often ground
the husks of Indian corn over again in a hand-mill,
for the chance of getting something to eat out of
it which the former grinding had left. In severe
frosts, I was compelled to go into the fields and
woods to work, with my naked feet cracked and
bleeding from extreme cold : to warm them, I used
to rouse an ox or hog, and stand on the place where
it had lain. I was at that place three years, and
very long years they seemed to me. The trick by
which he kept me so long was this : the court
8 LIFE OF MOSES GRAND Vf,
house was but a mile off. At hiring day, he pre-
vented me from going till he went himself and bid
for me. On the last occasion, he was detained for
a little while by other business ; so I ran as quickly
as I could, and got hired before he came up.
Mr. George Furley was my next master; he em-
ployed me as a cnr-boy in the Dismal Swamp; I
had to drive lumber, &,c. I had plenty to eat and
plenty of clothes. I was so overjoyed at the
change, that I then thought I would not have left
the place to go to heaven.
Next year I was hired by Mr. John Micheau, of
the same county, who married my young mistress,
one of the daughters of Mr. Grandy, and sister of
my present owner. This master gave us very few
clothes, and but little to eat. I was almost naked.
One day he came into the field, and asked why no
more work was done. The older people were
afraid of him ; so I said that the reason was, we
were so hungry we could not work. He went
home and told the mistress to give as plenty to eat,
and at dinner-time we had plenty. We came out
shouting for joy, and went to work with delight.
From that time we had food enough, and he soon
found that he had a great deal more work done.
The field was quite alive with people striving who
should do most.
He hired me for another year. He was a great
gambler. He kept me up five nights together, with-
out sleep night or day, to wait on the gambling ta-
ble. I was standing in the corner of the room, nod-
ding for want of sleep, when he took up the shovel
and beat me with it; he dislocated my shoulder, and
sprained my wrist, and broke the shovel over me.
I ran away, and got another person to hire me.
LATE A SLAVE. 9
This person was Mr. Richard Furley, who, after
that, hired me at the court house every year till
my master came of age. He gave me a pass to
work for myself; so I obtained work by the piece
where I could, and paid him out of my earnings
what we had agreed on ; I maintained myself on
the rest, and saved what I could. In this way I
was not liable to be flogged and ill used. He paid
seventy, eighty, or ninety dollars a year for me,
and I paid him twenty or thirty dollars a year more
than that.
When my master came of age, he took all his
colored people to himself. Seeing that I was in-
dustrious and persevering, and had obtained plenty
of work, he made me pay him almost twice as
much as I had paid Mr. Furley. At that time the
English blockaded the Chesapeake, which made it
necessary to send merchandise from Norfolk to
Elizabeth City by the Grand Canal, so that it might
get to sea by Pamlico Sound and Ocracock Inlet.
I took some canal boats on shares ; Mr. Grice, who
married my other young mistress, was the owner
of them. I crave him one half of all I received for
freight; out of the other half I had to victual and
man the boats, and all over that expense was my
own profit.
Some time before this, my brother Benjamin re-
turned from the West Indies, where he had been
two years with his master's vessel. I was very
glad to hear of it, and got leave to go see him.
While I was sitting with his wife and him, his
wife's master came and asked him to fetch a can
of water ; he did so, and carried it into the store.
While I was waiting for him, and wondering at his
being so long away, I heard the heavy blows of a
10 LIFE OF MOSES GRANDY,
hammer : after a little while I was alarmed, and
went to see what was going on. I looked into the
store, and saw my brother lying on his back on the
floor, and Mr. Williams, who had bought him, driv-
ing staples over his wrists and ankles ; an iron bar
was afterwards put across his breast, which was
also held down by staples. I asked what he had
been doing, and was told that he had done nothing
amiss, but that his master had failed, and he was
sold towards paying the debts. He lay in that
state all that night; next day he was taken to jail,
and I never saw him again. This is the usual
treatment under such circumstances. I had to go
by my mother's next morning, but I feared to tell
her what had happened to my brother. I got a boy
to go and tell her. She was blind and very old,
and was living in a little hut, in the woods, after
the usual manner of old, worn-out slaves; she was
unable to go to my brother before he was taken
away, and grieved after him greatly.
It was some time after this that I married a
slave belonging to Mr. Enoch Sawyer, who had
been so hard a master to me. I left her at home,
(that is, at his house,) one Thursday morning,
when we had been married about eight months.
She was well, and seemed likely to be so. We
were nicely getting together our little necessaries.
On the Friday, as I was at work, as usual, with the
boats, I heard a noise behind me, on the road which
ran by the side of the canal. I turned to look, and
saw a gang of slaves coming. When they came
up to me, one of them cried out, ' Moses, my dear ! '
I wondered who among them should know me, and
found it was my wife. She cried out to me, « I am
gone ! ' I was struck with consternation. Mr. Roger-
LATE A SLAVE. 11
son was with them, on his horse, armed with pistols.
I said to him, ' For God's sake, have you bought
my wife 1 ' He said he had ; when I asked him
what she had done, he said she had done nothing,
but that her master wanted money. He drew out
a pistol, and said that, if I went near the wagon on
which she was, he would shoot me. I asked for
leave to shake hands with her, which he refused,
but said I might stand at a distance and talk with
her. My heart was so full that I could say very
little. I asked leave to give her a dram. He told
Mr. Burgess, the man who was with him, to get
down and carry it to her. I gave her the little
money I had in my pocket, and bade her farewell.
I have never seen or heard of her from that day to
this. I loved her as I loved my life.
Mr. Grice found that I served him faithfully.
He and my young mistress, his wife, advised me,
as I was getting money fast, to try to buy myself.
By their advice, I asked my master what he would
take for me. He wanted $800 ; and, when I said
that was too much, he replied, he could get $1000
for me any minute. Mr. Grice afterwards went
with me to him ; he said to him that I had already
been more profitable to him than any five others
of his negroes, and reminded him that we had been
playfellows. In this way he got him to consent to
take $600 for me. I then went heartily to work,
and, whenever I paid him for my time, I paid him
something, also, towards my freedom, for which he
gave me receipts. When I made him the last pay-
ment of the $600 for my freedom, he tore up
all the receipts. I told him he ought not to have
done so ; he replied it did not signify, for, as soon
as court day came, he should give me my free
12 LIFE OF MOSES GRANDY,
papers. On Monday, in court week, I went to him ;
he was playing at billiards, and would not go with
me, but told me to come again the next day ; the
next day he did the same, and so on daily. I went
to his sister, Mrs. Grice, and told her I feared that
he did not mean to give them to me ; she said she
feared so too, and sent for him. He was a very
wicked young man; he came, and cursed her, and
went out of the house. Mr. Grice was from home ;
on his return, he went to my master, and told him
he ought to give me my free papers ; that I had
paid for myself, and it was court week, so that
there was no excuse. He promised he would ;
instead of which, he rode away, and kept away till
court was over. Before the next court came, he
sold me to Mr. Trewitt for $600.
The way in which Mr. Trewitt came to buy me
was this : I had left the boats, and had gone with
a schooner collecting lumber in Albemarle Sound
for the merchants. Coming to Elizabeth City, I
found a new store had been opened by Mr. Grice,
which Mr. Sutton was keeping : the latter gentle-
man was glad to see me, and was desirous that I
should return to my old employment with the canal
boats, as lumber was in great demand at Norfolk.
I did so, and sold some cargoes to Mr. Moses My-
ers, of Norfolk. As I was waiting at the door of
his store for settlement, he came up with Mr. Tre-
witt, whom I did not then know. Mr. Myers said
to Mr. Trewitt, ' Here is a captain doing business
for you.' Mr. Trewitt then asked me who had
chartered the boats, and to whom I belonged. I
told him Mr. Sutton had chartered me, and that I
had belonged to Mr. James Grandy, but had bought
myself. He said he would buy me; on which Mr
LATE A SLAVE. 13
Myers told him he could not, as I had already
bought myself, and further said I was one of their
old war captains, and had never lost a single thing
of the property intrusted to me. Mr. Trewitt said
he would buy me, and would see about it as soon
as he got to Elizabeth City. I thought no more
about it. On my return voyage, I delivered a car-
go at Elizabeth City, for Mr. Trewitt. I had been
at Mr. Grice's, the owner of the boats ; and, on my
going away from him to meet Mr. Trewitt for set-
tlement, he said he would go with me, as he want-
ed money. Opposite the custom house we met
Mr. Trewitt, who said, 'Well, captain, I have
bought you.' Mr. Grice said, ' Let us have no non-
sense ; go and settle with him.' Angry words
passed between them, one saying he had bought
me, and the other denying that he had or could,
as I had bought myself already. We all went to
Mr. Grice's dwelling house ; there Mr. Trewitt set-
tled with me about the freight, and then, jumping
up, said, ' Now I will show you, Mr. Grice, whether
I am a liar or not.' He fetched the bill of sale ;
on reading it, Mr. Grice's color changed, and he
sent for Mrs. Grice. When she read it, she began
to cry ; seeing that, I began to cry too. She sent
me to her brother, who was at Mr. Wood's board-
ing house. He was playing at billiards. I said to
him, ' Master James, have you sold me 1 ' He said,
1 No.' I said he had ; when he turned round and
went into another room, crying; I followed him.
All the gentlemen followed us, saying, ' Captain
Grandy, what is the matter?' I told them Master
James had sold me again. They asked him why
he had done it ; he said it was because people had
jeered him by saying I had more sense than he
14 LIFE OF MOSFS GRANDV
had. They would not suffer him to remain in the
boarding house, but turned him out, there and then,
with all his trunks and boxes. Mrs. Grice, his sis-
ter, sued him in my name for my liberty, but he
gained the cause. The court maintained that I, and
all I could do, belonged to him, and that he had a
right to do as he pleased with me and all my earn-
ings, as his own property, until he had taken me to
the court house, and given me my free papers,
and until, besides that, I had been a year and a
day in the Northern States to gain my residence.
So I was forced to go to Mr. Trewitt. He agreed
that, if I would pay him the same wages as I paid
my late master, and the -$690 he gave for me', he
would give me my free papers. He bought two
canal boats, and. taking me out of Mr. Grice's em-
ployment, set me to work them on the same terms
as I did for my former master. I was two years
and a half in earning 8600 to pay for myself the
second time. Just when I had completed the pay-
ment, he failed. On Christmas eve he gave me a
letter to take to Mr. Mews, at Newbegun Creek.
I was rather unwilling to take it, wishing to go to
my wife ; I told him, too, I was going to his office
to settle with him. He offered to give me two
dollars to take the letter, and said he would settle
when I came back : then Mr. Shaw came from
another room, and said his vessel was ready loaded,
but he had nobody he could trust with his goods ;
he offered me five dollars to take the vessel down,
and deliver the goods to Mr. Knox, who also was
at Newbegun Creek. The wind was fair, and the
hands on board, so I agreed : it being Christmas
eve, I was glad of something to carry to my wife.
J ran the vessel down to the mouth of the creek,
LATE A SLAVE. 15
and anchored ; when the moon rose, I went up the
river. I reached the wharf, and commenced taking
out the goods that night, and delivered them all
safely to Mr. Knox next morning. I then took the
letter to Mr. Mews, who read it, and, looking up at
me, said, ' Well, you belong to me.' I thought he
was joking, and said, ' How 1 What way?' He
said, ' Don't you recollect when Trewitt chartered
Wilson Sawyer's brig to the West Indies 1 ' I said,
I did. He told me Trewitt then came to him to
borrow $600, which he would not lend, except he
had a mortgage on me : Trewitt was to take it up
at a certain time, but never did. I asked him
whether he really took the mortgage on me. He
replied that he certainly thought Trewitt would
have taken up the mortgage, but he had failed, and
was not worth a cent, and he, Mews, must have
his money. I asked him whether he had not
helped me and my young mistress in the court
house, when master James fooled me before. He
said he did help me all he could, and that he should
not have taken a mortgage on me, but that he
thought Trewitt would take it up. Trewitt must
have received some of the last payments from me,
after he had given the mortgage, and knew he
should fail ; for the mortgage was given two months
before this time.
My head seemed to turn round and round ; I was
quite out of my senses ; I went away towards the
woods ; Mr. Mews sent his waiter after me to per-
suade me to go back. At first I refused, but after-
wards went. He told me he would give me another
chance to buy myself, and I certainly should have
my freedom that time. He said Mr. Enoch Saw-
yer wanted to buy me, to be his overseer in the
16 LIFE OF MOSES GRANDY,
Swamp. I replied I would never try again to buy
myself, and that they had already got $1,200 from
me. My wife* (this was my second wife) be-
longed to Mr. Sawyer ; he told me that her master
would not allow me to go to see her, if I would
not consent to what he now proposed ; for any col-
ored person going on the grounds of a white man,
after being warned off, is liable to be flogged, or
even shot. I thus found myself forced to go, al-
though no colored man wishes to live at the house
where his wife lives, for he has to endure the con-
tinual misery of seeing her flogged and abused,
without daring to say a word in her defence.
In the service of Mr. Sawyer, I got into a fair
way of buying myself again ; for I undertook the
lightering of shingles or boards out of the Dismal
Swamp, and hired hands to assist me. But my
master had become security for his two sons-in-law
at Norfolk, who failed ; in consequence of which
he sold eighteen colored people, his share of the
Swamp, and two plantations. I was one of the
slaves he kept, and after that had to work in the
corn-field the same as the rest. The overseer was
a bad one ; his name was Brooks. The horn was
blown at sunrise ; the colored people had then to
march before the overseer to the field, he on horse-
* It will be observed that the narrator married a second wife, without
having heard of the decease of the first. To explain this fact, it is ne-
cessary to state, that the frequent occurrence of cases where husbands
and wives, members of Christian societies, were finally separated by sale,
led the ministers, some years ago, to deliberate on the subject : they de-
cided that such separation might be considered as the death of the parties
to each other, and they therefore agreed to consider subsequent marriages
not immoral. The practice is general. It is scarcely necessary to re-
mark, that a more unequivocal and impressive proof of the heinous na-
ture of the system could hardly exist. It breaks up the fondest connec-
tions, it tear3 up the holiest attachments, and induces the ministers of
religion, as much as in them lies, to carve the divine law to a fitting
with its own infernal exigencies.
LATE A SLAVE. 17
back. We had to work, even m long summer days,
till twelve o'clock, before we tasted a morsel, men,
women, and children all being served alike. At
noon the cart appeared with our breakfast. It was
in large trays, and was set on the ground. There
was bread, of which a piece was cut off for each
person ; then there was small hominy boiled, that
is, Indian-corn, ground in the hand-mill, and be-
sides this two herrings for each of the men and
women, and one for each of the children. Our
drink was the water in the ditches, whatever might
be its state; if the ditches were dry, water was
brought to us by the boys. The salt fish made us
always thirsty, but no other drink than water was
ever allowed. However thirsty a slave may be, he
is not allowed to leave his employment for a mo-
ment to get water ; he can only have it when the
hands in working have reached the ditch, at the
end of the rows. The overseer stood with his
watch in his hand, to give us just an hour; when
he said, ' Rise,' we had to rise and go to work again.
The women who had children laid them down by
the hedge-row, and gave them straws and other tri-
fles to play with ; here they were in danger from
snakes ; I have seen a large snake found coiled
round the neck and face of a child, when its mother
went to suckle it at dinner-time. The hands work
in a line by the side of each other ; the overseer
puts the swiftest hands in the fore row, and all must
keep up with them. One black man is kept on pur-
pose to whip the others in the field ; if he does not
floa with sufficient severity, he is flowered himself:
11* 03 '
he whips severely, to keep the whip from his own
back. If a man have a wife in the same field with
himself, he chooses a row by the side of hers, that,
2
18 LIFE OF MOSES GRAND*,
with extreme labor, he may, if possible, help her.
But he will not be in the same field if he can help
it; for, with his hardest labor, he often cannot save
her from being flogged, and he is obliged to stand
by and see it ; he is always liable to see her taken
home at night, stripped naked, and whipped before
all the men. On the estate I am speaking of, those
women who had sucking children suffered much
from their breasts becoming full of milk, the infants
being left at home ; they therefore could not keep
up with the other hands. I have seen the overseer
beat them with raw hide, so that blood and milk
flew mingled from their breasts. A woman who
gives offence in the field, and is large in the family
way, is compelled to lie down over a hole made to
receive her corpulency, and is flogged with the
whip, or beat with a paddle, which has holes in it ;
at every hole comes a blister. One of my sisters
was so severely punished in this way, that labor
was brought on, and the child was born in the field.
This very overseer, Mr. Brooks, killed in this man-
ner a girl named Mary; her father and mother were
in the field at the time. He killed, also, a boy about
twelve years old. He had no punishment, or even
trial, for either.
There was no dinner till dark, when he gave the
order to knock off and go home. The meal then
was the same as in the morning, except that we
had meat twice a week.
On very few estates are the colored people pro-
vided with any bedding : the best masters give
only a blanket ; this master gave none ; a board,
which the slave might pick up any where on the
estate, was all he had to lie on. If he wished to
procure bedding, he could only do so by working at
LATE A SLAVE, 19
nights. For warmth, therefore, the negroes gener-
ally sleep near a large fire, whether in the kitchen,
or in their log huts; their legs are often in this way
blistered and greatly swelled, and sometimes badly
burnt : they suffer severely from this cause.
When the water-mill did not supply meal enough,
we had to grind with the hand-mill. The night
was employed in this work, without any thing being
taken from the labor of the day. We had to take
turn at it, women as well as men ; enough was to
be ground to serve for the following day.
I was eight months in the field. My master, Mr.
Sawyer, agreed to allow me eight dollars a month,
while so employed, towards buying myself; it will
be seen he did not give me even that. When I
first went to work in the corn-field, I had paid him
$230 towards this third buying of my freedom. I
told him, one night, I could not stand his field work
any longer ; he asked, why ; I said I was almost
starved to death, and had long been unaccustomed
to this severe labor. He wanted to know why I
could not stand it as well as the rest. I told him
he knew well I had not been used to it for a long
time; that his overseer was the worst that had ever
been on the plantation, and that I could not stand
it. He said he would direct Mr. Brooks to give
each of us a pint of meal or corn every evening,
which we might bake, and which would serve us
next morning, till our breakfast came at noon. The
black people were much rejoiced that I got this ad-
ditional allowance for them. But I was not satis-
fied ; I wanted liberty.
On Sunday morning, as master was sitting in his
porch, I went to him, and offered to give him the
$230 I had already paid him, if, beside them,
f>
LIFE OF MOSES (JUANDY
he would take for my freedom the $600 he had
given for me. He drove me away, saying I had no
way to get the money. I sat down for a time, and
went to him again. I repeated my offer to procure
the $631), and he again said I could not. He
called his wife out of the room to the porch, and
said to her, ' Don't you think Moses has taken to
getting drunk? ' She asked me if it was so ; I de-
nied it, when she inquired what was the matter.
Master replied, ' Don't you think he wants me to
sell him ? ' She said, ' Moses, we would not take
any money for you. Captain Cormack put a thou-
sand dollars for you on the supper table last Friday
night, and Mr. Sawyer would not touch it ; he
wants you to be overseer in the Dismal Swamp.'
I replied, ' Captain Cormack never said any thing
to me about buying me ; I would cut my throat
from ear to ear rather than go to him. I know
what made him say so ; he is courting Miss Patsey,
and he did it to make himself look bier. 5 Mistress^
laughed and turned away, and slammed to the
door; master shook himself with laughing, and put
the paper he was reading before his face, knowing
that I spoke the truth. Captain Cormack was an
old man who went on crutches. Miss Patsey was
the finest of master's daughters. Master drove me
away from him again.
On Monday morning, Mr. Brooks, the overseer,
blew the horn as usual for all to go to the field. I
refused to go. I went to master, and told him that
if he would give me a paper, I would go and fetch
the $690 ; he then gave me a paper, stating that he
was willing to take that sum for my freedom : so I
hired an old horse and started for Norfolk, fifty
miles off.
LATE A SLAVE. 21
When I reached Deep Creek, 1 went to the
house of Captain Edward Minner. He was very
glad to see me, for in former days I had done much
business for him ; he said how sorry he had been
to hear that I was at field work. He inquired
where I was going. I said, to Norfolk, to get some
of the merchants to let me have money to buy my-
self. He replied, « What did I always say to you ?
Was it not, that I would let you have the money
at any time, if you would only tell me when you
could be sold 1 ' He called Mrs. Minner into the
room, and told her I could be sold for my freedom;
she was rejoiced to hear it. He said, 'Put up your
horse at Mr. Western's tavern, for you need go no
farther ; I have plenty of old rusty dollars, and no
man shall put his hand on your collar again to say
you are a slave. Come and stay with me to-night,
and in the morning I will get Mr. Garret's horse,
and go with you.'
Next morning we set off, and found master at
Major Farrence's, at the cross canal, where I knew
he was to be that day, to sell his share of the ca-
nal. When I saw him, he told me to go forward
home, for he would not sell me. I felt sick and
sadly disappointed. Captain Minner stepped up to
him, and showed him the paper he had given me,
saying, * Mr. Sawyer, is not this your hand-writing 1 '
He replied, ' Mistress said, the last word when I
came away, I was not to sell him, but send him
home again.' Captain Minner said, ' Mind, gentle-
men, I do not want him for a slave ; I want to buy
him for freedom. He will repay me the money,
and I shall not charge him a cent of interest for it.
I would not have a colored person, to drag me down
to bell, for all the money in the world/ A gentle-
22 LIFE OF MOSES GRAND Y,
man who was by said it was a shame I should be
so treated ; I had bought myself so often that Mr.
Sawyer ought to let me go. The very worst man
as an overseer over the persons employed in dig-
ging the canal, Mr. Wiley M'Pherson, was there ;
he was never known to speak in favor of a colored
person ; even he said that Mr. Sawyer ought to let
me go, as I had been sold so often. At length, Mr.
Sawyer consented I should go for $650, and would
take no less. I wished Captain Minner to give the
extra $50, and not stand about it. I believe it was
what M'Pherson said that induced my master to let
me go ; for he was well known for his great sever-
ity to colored people ; so that after even he had said
so, master could not stand out. The Lord must
have opened M'Pherson's heart to say it.
I have said this M'Pherson was an overseer
where slaves were employed in cutting canals.
The labor there is very severe. The ground is
often very boggy ; the negroes are up to the mid-
dle, or much deeper, in mud and water, cutting
away roots and baling out mud ; if they can keep
their heads above water, they work on. They lodge
in huts, or, as they are called, camps, made of shin-
gles or boards. They lie down in the mud which
has adhered to them, making a great fire to dry
themselves, and keep off the cold. No bedding
whatever is allowed them ; it is only by work done
over his task that any of them can get a blanket.
They are paid nothing, except for this overwork.
Their masters come once a month to receive the
money for their labor; then, perhaps, some few
very good masters will give them $2 each, some
others $1, some a pound of tobacco, and some
nothing at all. The food is more abundant than
LATE A SLAVE. 23
that of field slaves: indeed, it is the best allowance
in America — it consists of a peck of meal and six
pounds of pork per week ; the pork is commonly not
good ; it is damaged, and is bought, as cheap as pos-
sible, at auctions.
M'Pherson gave the same task to each slave ; of
course, the weak ones often failed to do it. I have
often seen him tie up persons and flog them in the
morning, only because they were unable to get the
previous day's task done; after they were flogged,
pork or beef brine was put on their bleeding backs
to increase the pain ; he sitting by, resting himself,
and seeino- it done. After being thus flogged and
pickled, the sufferers often remained tied up all day,
the feet just touching the ground, the legs tied, and
pieces of wood put between the legs. All the mo-
tion allowed was a slight turn of the neck. Thus
exposed and helpless, the yellow flies and musqui-
toes in great numbers would settle on the bleeding
and smarting back, and put the sufferer to extreme
torture. This continued all day, for they were not
taken down till night. In flogging, he would some-
times tie the slave's shirt over his head, that he
might not flinch when the blow was coming; some-
times he would increase his misery, by blustering,
and calling out that he was coming to flog again,
which he did or did not, as happened. I have seen
him flog them with his own hands till their entrails
were visible ; and I have seen the sufferers dead
when they were taken down. He never was called
to account, in any way for it.
It is not uncommon for flies to blow the sores
made by flogging ; in that case, we get a strong
weed growing in those parts, called the Oak of Je-
rusalem ; we boil it at night, and wash the sores
24 LIFE OF MOSES GRANDY,
with the liquor, which is extremely bitter. On this
the creepers or maggots come out. To relieve
them in some degree, after severe flogging, their
fellow-slaves rub their backs with part of their little
allowance of fat meat.
For fear the slaves should run away, while una-
ble to work from flogging, he kept them chained
till they could work again. This man had from
500 to 700 men under his control. When out of
other employment, I sometimes worked under him,
and saw his doings. I believe it was the word of
this man which gained my freedom. He is dead 7
but there are yet others like him on public works.
When the great kindness of Captain Minner had
set me clear of Mr. Sawyer, I went to my old oc-
cupation of working the canal boats. These I
took on shares, as before. After a time, I was dis-
abled for a year from following this employment by
a severe attack of rheumatism, caught by frequent
exposure to severe weather. I was anxious, how-
ever, to be earning something towards the repay-
ment of Captain Minner, lest any accident, unfore-
seen by him or me, should even yet deprive me of
the liberty for which 1 so longed, and for which I
had suffered so much. I therefore had myself car-
ried in a lighter up a cross canal in the Dismal
Swamp, and to the other side of Drummond's Lake.
I was left on the shore, and there I built myself a
little hut, and had provisions brought to me as op-
portunity served. Here, among snakes, bears, and
panthers, whenever my strength was sufficient, I
cut down a juniper-tree, and converted it into
cooper's timber. The camp, like those commonly
set up for negroes, was entirely open on one side *
on that side a fire is lighted at night, and a person
LATE A SLAVE. 25
sleeping puts his feet towards it. One night I was
awoke by some animal smelling my face, and snuff-
ing strongly ; I felt its cold muzzle. I suddenly
thrust out rny arms, and shouted with all my might;
it was frightened, and made off. I do not know
whether it was a bear or a panther ; but it seemed
as tall as a large calf. I slept, of course, no more
that night. I put my trust in the Lord, and con-
tinued on the spot; I was never attacked again.
I recovered, and went to the canal boats again ;
by the end of three years from the time he laid
down the money, I entirely repaid my very kind
and excellent friend. During this time he made
no claim whatever on my services ; I was altogeth-
er on the footing of a free man, as far as a colored
man can there be free.
When, at length, I had repaid Captain Minner,
and had got my free papers, so that my freedom
was quite secure, my feelings were greatly excited.
I felt to myself so light, that I could almost think
I could fly; in my sleep I was always dreaming of
flying over woods and rivers. My gait was so al-
tered by my gladness, that people often stopped
me, saying, • Grandy, what is the matter 1 ' I ex-
cused myself as well as I could ; but many per-
ceived the reason, and said, ' O ! he is so pleased
with having got his freedom.' Slavery will teach
any man to be glad when he gets freedom.
My good master, Captain Minner, sent me to
Providence, in Rhode Island, to stay a year and a
day, in order to gain my residence. But I staid
only two months. Mr. Howard's vessel came there
laden with corn. I longed much to see my mas-
ter and mistress, for the kindness they had done
me, and so went home in the schooner. On my
26 LIFE OF MOSES GRANDY,
arrival, I did not stop at my own house, except io
ask my wife at the door how she and the children
were in health, but went up the town to see Cap-
tain and Mrs. Minner. They were very glad to
see me, and consulted with me about my way of
getting a living. I wished to go on board the New
York and Philadelphia packets, but feared I should
be troubled for my freedom. Captain Minner
thought I might venture, and I therefore engaged
myself. I continued in that employment till his
death, which happened about a year alter my re-
turn from Providence. Then I returned to Bos-
ton ; for, while he lived, I knew I could rely on his
protection ; but when I lost my friend, I thought it
best to go wholly to the Northern States.
At Boston I went to work at sawing wood, saw-
ing with the whip-saw, laboring in the coal-yards,
loading and unloading vessels, &c. After laboring
in this way for a few months, I went a voyage to
St. John's, in Porto Rico, with Captain Cobb, in the
schooner New Packet. On the return voyage, the
vessel got ashore on Cape Cod ; we left her, after
doing in vain what we could to right her : she was
afterwards recovered. I went several other voyages,
and particularly two to the Mediterranean : the last
was to the East Indies, in the ship James Murray,
Captain Woodbury, owner Mr. Gray. My entire
savings, up to the period of my return from this
voyage, amounted to $300 ; I sent it to Virginia,
and bought my wife. She came to me at Boston.
I dared not go myself to fetch her, lest I should be
again deprived of my liberty, as often happens to
free colored people.
At the time, called the time of the Insurrection,
about eight years ago, when the whites said the
LATE A SLAVE. 27
colored people were going to rise, and shot, hanged,
and otherwise destroyed many of them, Mrs. M in-
ner thought she saw me in the street, and fainted
there. The soldiers were seizing all the blacks
they could find, and she knew, if 1 were there, I
should be sure to suffer with the rest. She was
mistaken ; I was not there.
My son's master, at Norfolk, sent a letter to me
at Boston, to say, that if I could raise $450, I might
have his freedom ; he was then fifteen years old.
I had again saved $300. I knew the master was a
drinking man, and was therefore very anxious to
get my son out of his hands. I went to Norfolk,
running the risk of my liberty, and took my $300
with me, to make the best bargain I could. Many
gentlemen in Boston, my friends, advised me not to
go myself; but I was anxious to get my boy's free-
dom, and I knew that nobody in Virginia had any
cause of complaint against me. So, notwithstand-
ing their advice, I determined to go.
When the vessel arrived there, they said it was
against the law for me to go ashore. The mayor
of the city said I had been among the cursed Yan-
kees too long ; he asked me whether I did not
know that it was unlawful for me to land, to which
I replied, that I did not know it, for I could neither
read nor write. The merchants for whom I had
formerly done business came on board, and said
they cared for neither the mare (mayor) nor the
horse, and insisted that I should go ashore. I told
the mayor the business on which I came, and he
gave me leave to stay nine days, telling me that if I
were not gone in that time, he would sell me for
the good of the state.
I offered mv bov's master the $300 ; he counted
28 LIFE OF MOSES GRANDY,
the money, but put it back to me, refusing to take
less than $450. I went on board to return to Bos-
ton. We met with head winds, and put back three
times to Norfolk, anchoring each time just opposite
the jail. The nine days had expired, and I feared
the mayor would find me on board and sell me. I
could see the jail, full of colored people, and even
the whipping-post, at which they were constantly
enduring the lash. While we were lying there by
the jail, two vessels came from Eastern Shore, Vir-
ginia, laden with cattle and colored people. The
cattle were lowing for their calves, and the men
and women were crying for their husbands, wives,
or children. The cries and groans were terrible,
notwithstanding there was a whipper on board each
vessel, trying to compel the poor creatures to keep
silence. These vessels lay close to ours. I had
been a long time away from such scenes ; the sight
affected me very much, and added greatly to my
fears.
One day I saw a boat coming from the shore
with white men in it. I thought they were officers
coming to take me ; and such was my horror of
slavery, that I twice ran to the ship's waist to jump
overboard into the strong ebb tide then running, to
drown myself; but a strong impression on my mind
restrained me each time.
Once more we got under way for New York ;
but, meeting again with head winds, we ran into
Maurice's River, in Delaware Bay. New Jersey,
in which that place lies, is not a slave state. So I
said to the captain, ' Let me have a boat, and set
me on the free land once more ; then I will travel
home over land; fori will not run the risk of going
back to Virginia any more. The captain said there
LATE A SLAVE. 29
was no danger, but I exclaimed, ' No, no ! captain,
I will not try it ; put my feet on free land once
again, and I shall be safe.' When I once more
touched the free land, the burden of my miud was
removed; if two ton weight had been taken off me,
the relief would not have seemed so great.
From Maurice's Creek I travelled to Philadel-
phia, and at that place had a letter written to my
wife, at Boston, thanking God that I was on free
land again. On arriving at Boston, I borrowed
6150 of a friend, and, going to New York, I ob-
tained the help of Mr. John Williams to send the
8450 to Norfolk ; thus, at length, I bought my
son's freedom. I met him at New York, aud
brought him on to Boston.
Six other of my children, three boys and three
girls, were sold to New Orleans. Two of these
daughters have bought their own freedom. The
eldest of them, Catherine, was sold three times af-
ter she was taken away from Virginia; the first
time was by auction. Her last master but one was
a Frenchman ; she worked in his sugar-cane and
cotton fields. Another Frenchman inquired for a
girl, on whom he could depend, to wait on his wife,
who was in a consumption. Her master offered
him my daughter ; they went into the field to see
her, and the bargain was struck. Her new master
gave her up to his sick wife, on whom she waited
till her death. As she had waited exceedingly well
on his wife, her master offered her a chance of buy-
ing her freedom. She objected to his terms as too
high ; for he required her to pay him $4 a week
out of her earnings, and 81,200 for her freedom.
He said he could get more for her, and told her
Bhe might get plenty of washing, at a dollar a
30 LIFE OF MOSES (>KANDY
dozen : at last she agreed. She Jived near the
river side, and obtained plenty of work. So anx-
ious was she to obtain her freedom, that she worked
nearly all her time, days and nights, and Sundays.
She found, however, she gained nothing by work-
ing on Sundays, and therefore left it off. She paid
her master punctually her weekly hire, and also
something towards her freedom, for which he gave
her receipts. A good stewardess was wanted for
a steamboat on the Mississippi; she was hired for
the place at §30 a month, which is the usual salary ;
she also had liberty to sell apples and oranges on
board ; and, commonly, the passengers give from
twenty-five cents to a dollar to a stewardess who
attends them well. Her entire incoming, wages
and all, amounted to about sixty dollars a month.
She remained at this employment till she had paid
the entire sum of § 1,200 for her freedom.
As soon as she obtained her free papers, she left
the steamboat, thinking she could find her sister
Charlotte. Her first two trials were unsuccessful ;
but on the third attempt she found her at work in
the cane-field. She showed her sister's master her
own free papers, and told him how she had bought
herself; he said that, if her sister would pay him
as much as she paid her master, she might go too.
They agreed, and he gave her a pass. The two
sisters went, on board a steamboat, and worked to-
gether for the wages of one, till they had saved the
entire $1,200 for the freedom of the second sister.
The husband of Charlotte was dead ; her children
were left behind in the cotton and cane-fields ;
their master refuses to take less than $2,400 for
them ; their names and ages are as follows : Zeno,
about fifteen ; Antoinette, about thirteen ; Joseph,
LATE A SLAVE. 31
about eleven ; and Josephine, about ten years old.
Of my other children, I only know that one, a
girl, named Betsey, is a little way from Norfolk, in
Virginia. Her master, Mr. William Dixon, is
willing to sell her -for $500.
I do not know where any of my other four chil-
dren are, nor whether they be dead or alive. It
will be very difficult to find them out : for the
names of slaves are commonly changed with every
change of master : they usually bear the name of
the master to whom they belong at the time : they
have no family name of their own by which they
can be traced. Through this circumstance, and
their ignorance of reading and writing, to which
they are compelled by law, all trace between pa-
rents and children, who are separated from them in
childhood, is lost in a few years. When, therefore,
a child is sold away from its mother, she feels that
she is parting from it forever ; there is little likeli-
hood of her ever knowing what of good or evil be-
falls it. The way of finding out a friend or rela-
tive who has been sold away for any length of
time, or to any great distance, is to trace them, if
possible, to one master after another, or if that
cannot be done, to inquire about the neighborhood
where they are supposed to be, until some one i3
found who can tell that such or such a person
belonged to such or such a master ; and the per-
son supposed to be the one sought for, may,
perhaps, remember the names of the persons to
whom his father and mother belonged : there is
little to be learned from his appearance, for so
many years may have passed away that he may
have grown out of the memory of his parents, or
his nearest relations. There are thus no lasting
32 LIFE OF MOSES GRANUY,
family ties to bind relations together, not even the
nearest, and this aggravates their distress when
they are sold from each other. I have little hope
of rinding my four children again.
I have lived in Boston ever since I bought my
freedom, except during the last year, which I have
spent at Portland, in the state of Maine.
I have yet said nothing of my father. He was
often sold through the failure of his successive
owners. When I was a little boy, he was sold
away from us to a distance : he was then so far off
that he could not come to see us oftener than once
a year. After that, he was sold to go still farther
away, and then he could not come at all. I do not
know what has become of him.
When my mother became old, she was sent to
live in a little lonely log-hut in the woods. Aged
and worn-out slaves, whether men or women, are
commonly so treated. No care is taken of them,
except, perhaps, that a little ground is cleared
about the hut, on which the old' slave, if able, may
raise a little corn. As far as the owner is con-
cerned, they live or die, as it happens : it is just the
same thing as turning out an old horse. Their
children, or other near relations, if living in the
neighborhood, take it by turns to go at night with
a supply saved out of their own scanty allowance
of food, as well as to cut wood and fetch water for
them : this is done entirely through the good feel-
ings of the slaves, and not through the masters'
taking care that it is done. On these night-visits,
the aged inmate of the hut is often found crying
on account of sufferings from disease or extreme
weakness, or from want of food or water in the
course of the day : many a time, when I have
LATE A 8LAVE. 33
drawn near to my mother's hut, I have heard her
grieving and crying on these accounts : she was
old and blind too, and so unable to help herself.
She was not treated worse than others : it is the
general practice. Some few good masters do not
treat their old slaves so: they employ them in
doing light jobs about the house and garden.
My eldest sister is in Elizabeth City. She has
five children, who, of course, are slaves. Her
master is willing to sell her for $100 : she is grow-
ing old. One of her children, a young man, cannot
be bought under $900.
My sister Tamar, who belonged to the same
master with myself, had children very fast. Her
husband had hard owners, and lived at a distance.
When a woman who has many children belongs to
an owner who is under age, as ours was, it is cus-
tomary to put her and the children out yearly to
the person who will maintain them for the least
money, the person taking them having the benefit
of whatever work the woman can do. But my
sister was put to herself in the woods. She had a
bit of ground cleared, and was left to hire herself
out to labor. On the ground she raised corn and
flax ; and obtained a peck of corn, some herrings,
or a piece of meat, for a day's work among the
neighboring owners. In this way she brought up
her children. Her husband could help her but
little. As soon as each of the children became big
enough, it was sold away from her.
After parting thus with five, she was sold along
with the sixth, (about a year and a half old,) to the
speculators; these are persons who buy slaves in
Carolina and Virginia, to sell them in Georgia and
New Orleans. After travelling with them more
34 LIFE OF MOStiS GRANDY,
than one hundred miles, she made her escape, but
could not obtain her child to take it with her. On
her journey homeward she travelled by night, and
hid herself in thick woods by day. She was in
great danger on the road, but in three weeks
reached the woods near us : there she had to keep
herself concealed : I, my mother, and her husband,
knew where she was : she lived in a den she made
for herself. She sometimes ventured down to my
mother's hut, where she was hid in a hollow under
the floor. Her husband lived ten miles off; he
would sometimes set off after his day's work was
done, spend part of the night with her, and get
back before next sunrise : sometimes he would
spend Sunday with her. We all supplied her with
such provisions as we could save. It was neces-
sary to be very careful in visiting her ; we tied
pieces of wood or bundles of rags to our feet, that
no track might be made.
In the wood she had three children born ; one of
them died. She had not recovered from the birth
of the youngest when she was discovered and taken
to the house of her old master.
She was afterwards sold to Culpepper, who used
her very cruelly. He was beating her dreadfully,
and the blood was streaming from her head and
back one day when I happened to go to his house.
I was greatly grieved, and asked his leave to find a
person to buy her : instead of answering me, he
struck at me with an axe, and I was obliged to get
away as fast as I could. Soon after this he failed,
and she was offered for sale in Norfolk ; there Mr.
Johnson bought her and her two children, out of
friendship for me: he treated her exceedingly well,
and she served him faithfully ; but it was not long
LATE A SLAVE. 35
before she was claimed by a person to whom Cul-
pepper had mortgaged her before he sold her to
Johnson. This person sold her to Long, of Eliza-
beth City, where again she was very badly treated.
After a time, this person sold her to go to Georgia :
she was very ill at the time, and was taken away in
a cart. I hear from her sometimes, and am very
anxious to purchase her freedom, if ever I should
be able. Two of her children are now in North
Carolina, and are longing to obtain their freedom.
I know nothing of the others, nor am I likely ever
to hear of them ao-ain.
©
The treatment of slaves is mildest near the bor-
ders, where the free and slave states join : it be-
comes more severe, the farther we go from the
free states. It is more severe in the west and
south than where I lived. The sale of slaves
most frequently takes place from the milder to the
severer parts : there is great traffic in slaves in that
direction, which is carried on by the speculators.
On the frontier between the slave and free States
there is a guard; no colored person can go over a
ferry without a pass. By these regulations, and
the great numbers of patrols, escape is made next
to impossible.
Formerly slaves were allowed to have religious
meetings of their own ; but after the insurrection
which I spoke of before, they were forbidden to
meet even for worship. Often they are flogged if
they are found singing or praying at home. They
may go to the places of worship used by the
whites; but they like their own meetings better.
My wife's brother Isaac was a colored preacher.
A number of slaves went privately into a wood to
hold meetings; when they were found out, they
36 LIFE OF MOSES GRANDY,
were flogged, and each was forced to tell who else
was there. Three were shot, two of whom were
killed, and the other was badly wounded. For
preaching to them, Isaac was flogged, and his back
pickled; when it was nearly well, he was flogged
and pickled again, and so on for some months ; then
his back was suffered to get well, and he was sold.
A little while before this, his wife was sold away
with an infant at her breast ; and out of six chil-
dren, four had been sold away by one at a time.
On the way with his buyers he dropped down
dead ; his heart was broken.
Having thus narrated what has happened to my-
self, my relatives and near friends, I will add a few
matters about slaves and colored people in general.
Slaves are under fear in every word they speak.
If, in their master's kitchen, they let slip an expres-
sion of discontent, or a wish for freedom, it is often
reported to the master or mistress by the children
of the family who may be playing about : severe
flogging is often the consequence.
I have already said that it is forbidden by law
to teach colored persons to read or write. A few
well-disposed white young persons, of the families
to which the slaves belonged, have ventured to
teach them, but they dare not let it be known they
have done so.
The proprietors get new land cleared in this way.
They first ' dead ' a piece of ground in the woods
adjoining the plantation: by 'deading' is meant
killing the trees, by cutting a nick all round each,
quite through the Dark. Out of this ground each
colored person has a piece as large as he can tend
after his other work is done ; the women have
pieces in like manner. The slave works at night,
LATE A SLAVE, 37
cutting down the timber and clearing the ground ;
after it is cleared, he has it for his own use for two
or three years, as may be agreed on. As these
new clearings fie between the woods and the old
cultivated land, the squirrels and raccoons first come
at the crops on them, and thus those on the plant-
er's land are saved from much waste. When the
negro has had the land for the specified time, and
it has become fit for the plough, the master takes
it, and he is removed to another new piece. It is
no uncommon thing for the land to be taken from
him before the time is out, if it has sooner become
fit for the plough. When the crop is gathered, the
master comes to see how much there is of it ; he
then gives the negro an order to sell that quantity ;
without that order, no storekeeper dare buy it. The
slave lays out the money in something tidy to go to
meeting in, and something to take to his wife.
The evidence of a black man, or of ever so many
black men, stands for nothing against that of one
white ; in consequence of it the free negroes are
liable to great cruelties. They have had their
dwellings entered, their bedding and furniture de-
stroyed, and themselves, their wives and children,
beaten ; some have even been taken, with their
wives, into the woods, and tied up, flogged, and
left there. There is nothing which a white man
may not do against a black one, if he only takes
care that no other white man can give evidence
against him.
A law has lately been passed in New Orleans
prohibiting any free colored person from going there.
The coasting packets of the ports on the Atlan-
tic commonly have colored cooks. When a vessel
goes from New York or Boston to a port in the
38 LIFE OF MOSES GRANDY,
slaveholding states, the black cook is usually put
in jail till the vessel sails again.
No colored person can travel without a pass. If
he cannot show it, he may be flogged by any body ;
in such a case he often is seized and flogged by the
patrols. All through the slave states there are
patrols ; they are so numerous that they cannot be
easily escaped.
The only time when a man can visit his wife,
when they are on different estates, is Saturday
evening and Sunday. If they be very near to
each other, he may sometimes see her on Wednes-
day evening. He must always return to his work
by sunrise ; if he fail to do so, he is flogged. When
he has got together all the little things he can for
his wife and children, and has walked many miles
to see them, he may find that they have all been
sold away, some in one direction, and some in
another. He gives up all hope of seeing them
again, but he dare not utter a word of complaint.
It often happens that, when a slave wishes to
visit his wife on another plantation, his own master
is busy or from home, and therefore he cannot get
a pass. He ventures without it. If there be any
little spite against hiswife or himself, he may be
asked for it when he arrives, and, not having it, he
may be beaten with thirty-nine stripes, and sent
away. On his return, he may be seized by the
patrol, and flogged again for the same reason; and
he will not wonder if he is again seized and beaten
for the third time.
If a negro has given offence to the patrol, even
by so innocent a matter as dressing tidily to go to a
place of worship, he will be seized by one of them,
and another will tear up his pass ; while one is
LATE A SLAVE. 39
flogging him, the others will look another way ; so
when he or his master makes complaint of his hav-
ing been beaten without cause, and he points out
the person who did it, the others will swear they
saw no one beat him. His oath, being that of a
black man, would stand for nothing ; but he may
not even be sworn ; and, in such a case, his tor-
mentors are safe, for they were the only whites
present.
In all the slave states there are men who make
a trade of whipping negroes ; they ride about in-
quiring for jobs of persons who keep no overseer ;
if there is a negro to be whipped, whether man or
woman, this man is employed when he calls, and
does it immediately ; his fee is half a dollar. Wid-
ows and other females, having negroes, get them
whipped in this way. Many mistresses will insist
on the slave who has been flogged begging pardon
for her fault on her knees, and thanking her for the
correction.
A white man, who lived near me in Camden
county, Thomas Evidge, followed this business.
He was also sworn whipper at the court house.
A law was passed that any white man detected in
stealing should be whipped. Mr. Dozier frequent-
ly missed hogs, and flogged many of his negroes on
suspicion of stealing them ; when he could not, in
his suspicions, fix on any one in particular, he
flogged them all round, saying that he was sure of
having punished the right one. Being one day
shooting in his woods, he heard the report of
anothet gun, and shortly after met David Evidge,
the nephew of the whipper, with one of his hogs
on his back, which had just been shot. David was
sent to prison, convicted of the theft, and sen-
40 LIFE OF MOSES URANDY,
tenced to be flogged. His uncle, who vapored
about greatly in flogging slaves, and taunted them
with unfeeling speeches while he did it, could not
bear the thought of flogging his nephew, and hired
a man to do it. The person pitched on chanced to
be a sailor ; he laid it well on the thief; pleased
enough were the colored people to see a white back
for the first .time subjected to the lash.
Another man of the same business, George Wil-
kins, did no greater credit to the trade. Mr. Car-
nie, on Western Branch, Virginia, often missed
corn from his barn. Wilkins, the whipper, was
very officious in pointing out this slave and that, as
very likely to be the thief; with nothing against
them but his insinuations, some were very severely
punished, being flogged by this very Wilkins, and
others, at his instigation, were sold away. One
night, Mr. Carnie, unknown to his colored people,
set a steel trap in the barn ; some of the negroes,
passing the barn before morning, saw Wilkins stand-
ing there, but were not aware he was caught. They
called the master, that he might seize the thief be-
fore he could escape ; he came and teased Wilkins
during the night ; in the morning, he exposed him
to the view of the neighbors, and then set him at
liberty without further punishment.
The very severe punishments to which slaves
are subjected, for trifling offences, or none at all,
their continued liability to all kinds of ill usage,
without a chance of redress, and the agonizing
feelings they endure at being separated from the
dearest connections, drive many of them to des-
peration, and they abscond. They hide themselves
in the woods, where they remain for months, and,
in some cases, for years. When caught, they are
LATE A SLAVE. 41
flogged with extreme severity, their backs are
pickled, and the flogging repeated as before de-
scribed : after months of this torture, the back is
allowed to heal, and the slave is sold away. Espe-
cially is this done when the slave has attempted to
reach a free state.
In violent thunder-storms, when the whites have
got between feather-beds to be safe from the light-
ning, I have often seen negroes, the aged as well
as others, go out, and, lifting up their hands, thank
God that judgment was coming at last. So cruelly
are many of them used, that judgment, they think,
would be a happy release from their horrible slavery.
The proprietors, though they live in luxury, gen-
erally die in debt : their negroes are so hardly
treated that no profit is made by their labor.
Many of them are great gamblers. At the death
of a proprietor, it commonly happens that his
colored people are sold towards paying his debts.
So it must and will be with the masters while
slavery continues: when freedom is established, I
believe they will begin to prosper greatly.
Before I close this Narrative, I ought to express
my grateful thanks to the many friends in the
Northern States, who have encouraged and assisted
me : I shall never forget to speak of their kindness,
and to pray for their prosperity. I am delighted in
saying, that not only to myself, but to very many
other colored persons, they have lent a benevolent
and helping hand. Last year, gentlemen whom I
know bought no less than ten families from slavery;
and this year they are pursuing the same good work.
But for these numerous and heavy claims on their
means and their kindness, I should have had no
need to appeal to the generosity of the British pub-
42 LIFE OF MOSES GRANDV,
lie; they would gladly have helped me to redeem
all my children and relations.
When I first went to the Northern States, — which
is about ten years ago, — although I was free as to
the law, I was made to feel severely the difference
between persons of different colors. No black man
was admitted to the same seats in churches with
the whites, nor to the inside of public conveyances,
nor into street coaches or cabs : we had to be con-
tent with the decks of steamboats in all weathers,
night and day, not even our wives or children being
allowed to go below, however it might rain, or snow,
or freeze ; in various other ways, we were treated
as though we were of a race of men below the
whites. But the abolitionists boldly stood up for
us, and,, through them, things are much changed
for the better. Now, we may sit in any part of
many places of worship, and are even asked into
the pews of respectable white families ; many pub-
lic conveyances now make no distinction between
white and black. We begin to feel that we are
really on the same footing as our fellow-citizens.
They see we can and do conduct ourselves with
propriety, and they are now admitting us, in many
cases, to the same standing with themselves.
During the struggles which have procured for us
this justice from our fellow-citizens, we have been
in the habit of looking in public places for some
well-known abolitionists, and, if none that we knew
were there, we addressed any person dressed as a
duaker; these classes always took our part against
ill usage, and we have to thank them for many a
contest in our behalf.
We were greatly delighted by the zealous efforts
and powerful eloquence in our cause of Mr. George
LATE A SLAVE. 43
Thompson, who came from our English friends to
aid our suffering brethren. He was hated and
mobbed by bad men amongst the whites ; they put
his life in great danger, and threatened destruction
to all who sheltered him. We prayed for him, and
did all we could to defend him. The Lord pre-
served him, and thankful were we when he escaped
from our country with his life. At that time, and
ever since, we have had a host of American friends,
who have labored for the cause night and day; they
have nobly stood up for the rights and honor of the
colored man ; but they did so at first in the midst
of scorn and danger. Now, thank God, the case is
very different. William Lloyd Garrison, who was
hunted for his life by a mob in the streets of New
York, has lately been chairman of a large meeting
in favor of abolition, held in Faneuil Hall, the cel-
ebrated public hall of Boston, called the ' Cradle of
Liberty.'
I am glad to say also that numbers of my colored
brethren now escape from slavery ; some by pur-
chasing their freedom, others by quitting, through
many dangers and hardships, the land of bondage.
The latter suffer many privations in their attempts
to reach the free states. They hide themselves,
during the day, in the woods and swamps; at night,
they travel, crossing rivers by swimming or by boats
they may chance to meet with, and passing over
hills and meadows which they do not know : in
these dangerous journeys they are guided by the
north-star, for they only know that the land of free-
dom is in the north. They subsist only on such
wild fruit as they can gather, and as they are often
very long on their way, they reach the free states
almost like skeletons. On their arrival they have
44 LIFE OF MOSES GRAtfDY,
no friends but such as pity those who have been-
in bondage, the number of whom, I am happy to
say, is increasing ; but if they can meet with a man
in a broad-brimmed hat and duaker coat, they
speak to him without fear — relying on him as a
friend. At each place the escaped slave inquires
for an abolitionist or a duaker, and these friends of
the colored man help them on their journey north-
wards, until they are out of the reach of danger.
Our untiring friends, the abolitionists, once ob-
tained a law that no colored person should be seized
as a slave within the free states ; this law would
have been of great service to us, by ridding us of
all anxiety about our freedom while we remained
there ; but I am sorry to say, that it has lately been
repealed, and that now, as before, any colored per-
son who is said to be a slave, may be seized in the
free states and carried away, no matter how long
he may have resided there, as also may his chil-
dren and their children, although they all may have
been born there. I hope this law will soon be al-
tered again. At present many escaped slaves are
forwarded by their friends to Canada, where, under
British rule, they are quite safe. There is a body
of ten thousand of them in Upper Canada ; they
are known for their good order, and loyalty to the
British government; during the late troubles, they
could always be relied on for the defence of the
British possessions against the lawless Americans
who attempted to invade them.
As to the settlement of Liberia, on the coast of
Africa, the free colored people of America do not
willingly go to it. America is their home : if their
forefathers lived in Africa, they themselves know
nothing of that country. None but free colored
LATE A 9LAVE. 45
people are taken there : if they would take slaves,
they might have plenty of colonists. Slaves will
go any where for freedom.
We look very much to England for help to the
cause of the slaves. Whenever we hear of the
people of England doing good to black men, we
are delighted, and run to tell each other the news.
Our kind friends, the abolitionists, are very much
encouraged when they hear of meetings and speech-
es in England in our cause. The first of August,
the day when the slaves in the West Indies were
made free, is always kept as a day of rejoicing by
the American colored free people.
I do hope and believe that the cause of freedom
to the blacks is becoming stronger and stronger
every day. I pray for the time to come when
freedom shall be established all over the world.
Then will men love as brethren ; they will delight
to do good to one another ; and they will thankfully
worship the Father of All.
And now I have only to repeat my hearty thanks
to all who have done any thing towards obtaining
liberty for my colored brethren, and especially to
express my gratitude to those who have helped me
to procure for myself, my wife, and so far of my
children, the blessing of freedom — a blessing of
which none can know the value, but he who has
been a slave. Whatever profit may be obtained by
the sale of this book, and all donations with which
1 may be favored, will be faithfully employed in
redeeming my remaining children and relatives
from the dreadful condition of slavery.
NOTE.
I have paid the following suras to redeem myself
and relatives from slavery, viz :
For my own freedom, . . . $1,850
For my wife's " .... 300
For my son's " 450
Grandchild's " 400
To redeem my kidnapped son, . 60
$3,060
I now wish to raise $100 to buy the freedom of
my sister Mary, who is a slave at Elizabeth City,
N. C. Her master says he will take that sura
for her. M. G.
Boston, Jan. 19, 1844.
